Tokyo, 22 January, /AJMEDIA/
M6.6 quake hits southwestern, western Japan, no tsunami triggered
TOKYO – An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 rattled southwestern and western Japan early Saturday, resulting in at least four injuries amid strong shaking although no tsunami waves were triggered, the weather agency and local authorities said.
The focus of the quake under the Pacific Ocean was within a zone off Japan’s coast where an earthquake causing a massive tsunami is predicted to occur in the future. The Japan Meteorological Agency said it will study whether the latest quake is connected in any way with the one feared to be coming.
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Japan, U.S. agree to launch economic dialogue, align on China, Russia
TOKYO/WASHINGTON – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to launch a high-level bilateral economic dialogue amid China’s growing clout in the region, and to cooperate over security threats posed by North Korea as well as potential Russian invasion into Ukraine.
During their first formal summit meeting, held virtually, Biden signaled to Kishida his intention to travel to Japan in late spring when the Asian country plans to host a meeting of the leaders of the Quad, a U.S. official said, referring to the group of four Indo-Pacific democracies also involving Australia and India.
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Japan to expand COVID quasi-emergency to 29 of 47 prefectures
TOKYO – Japan is planning to expand the enforcement of a quasi-state of emergency to a total of 29 of the country’s 47 prefectures, after Osaka and seven others requested Friday that the central government put them under such a measure in an effort to curb the further spread of coronavirus infections.
While the eight prefectures filed the request with the government so as to restrict the business of restaurants and bars, Japan’s daily COVID-19 cases totaled 49,854, setting a new record for the fourth straight day.
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Japan’s daily COVID cases top 49,000, new record for 4th straight day
TOKYO – Japan’s confirmed daily coronavirus cases Friday topped 49,000, setting a new record for the fourth consecutive day as the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads rapidly across the country.
Of the total, Tokyo confirmed 9,699 daily cases, eclipsing the previous record high of 8,638 logged the previous day, while the Osaka prefectural government also hit a fresh high of 6,254.
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Tennis: Osaka eliminated from Australian Open in 3rd-round upset
MELBOURNE – Defending champion Naomi Osaka was eliminated from the Australian Open on Friday in a third-round upset against 60th-ranked American Amanda Anisimova.
The 20-year-old Anisimova won 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) at Margaret Court Arena, outdueling the Japanese former world No. 1 in the first-to-10 tie-breaker after neither player broke serve in the deciding set.
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China raps U.S. for making “irresponsible” remarks on nuclear policy
BEIJING – China on Friday criticized the United States for making irresponsible remarks about the Asian country’s nuclear policy, hours after Washington and Tokyo voiced concern over Beijing’s ongoing increase in its nuclear capabilities.
“As we all know, the United States is the biggest threat to global strategic security. The United States has the largest and most advanced nuclear weapons arsenal in the world,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.
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Record 88% of Japanese “feel friendly” toward U.S.: survey
TOKYO – The percentage of Japanese who “feel friendly” toward the United States increased to an all-time high of 88.5 percent, a Japanese government poll showed Friday, reflecting strengthened ties between the allies in such areas as security and the economy.
The figure is up 4.5 percentage points from the previous survey a year ago, according to the Cabinet Office survey, which also found that around 85 percent of respondents see ties between Japan and China as “not good” or “not really good.”
